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Historic Ads from Hartman Center Get a Viewing from the Library of Congress

Part of the Mad Men in the Classroom Series

DURHAM, N.C. - More than 9,000 historical advertisements that shed light on the emergence of the advertising trade in the United States are now available at "American Memory," a Web site of the Library of Congress.

The images are drawn primarily from the Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising and Marketing History at Duke University.

Officials at the National Digital Library Program at the Library of Congress launched the site, http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/award98/ncdhtml/eaahome.html in May. The images, available since December 2000 at Duke's Rare Book, Manuscript and Special Collections Library Web site, are now expected to achieve much greater visibility, according to Paolo Mangiafico, director of the university's Digital Scriptorium.

"This collection is of great interest to people who want to learn about the evolution of sales, advertising and marketing," Mangiafico said. "We're grateful for our partnership with the Library of Congress."

The collection dates from 1850 to 1920 and features cookbooks, photos of billboards, print advertisements, trade cards, calendars, almanacs and product leaflets. The highlights include early ads from Kodak and Lux, and materials documenting the first tobacco advertising.

According to Hartman Center Director Ellen Gartrell, the materials not only illuminate the intersection of American business and culture but also "document the rise of consumer trends and the development of a professional advertising industry in the United States."

The ads and related materials were digitized with a $75,000 grant from the Ameritech Foundation as part of a Library of Congress goal to enable U.S. libraries, archives, museums and historical societies to post their collections of American historical materials online for inclusion in the American Memory site.The collection dates from 1850 to 1920 and features cookbooks, photos of billboards, print advertisements, trade cards, calendars, almanacs and product leaflets. The highlights include early ads from Kodak and Lux, and materials documenting the first tobacco advertising.

According to Hartman Center Director Ellen Gartrell, the materials not only illuminate the intersection of American business and culture but also "document the rise of consumer trends and the development of a professional advertising industry in the United States."

The ads and related materials were digitized with a $75,000 grant from the Ameritech Foundation as part of a Library of Congress goal to enable U.S. libraries, archives, museums and historical societies to post their collections of American historical materials online for inclusion in the American Memory site.

Written by Noah Bartolucci.